"An audit found that the time it takes the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to issue penalties to polluters has doubled. Some companies that have been known to violate air quality rules were able to keep at it for years, or even decades."
"DuPont de Nemours Inc. and Chemours Co. agreed to a $4 billion settlement of a dispute over environmental liabilities shifted to Chemours after it was spun off in 2015. The accord, which also includes DuPont’s former seed business Corteva Inc., covers payments for liabilities tied to a class of chemicals known as PFAS, the companies said in a statement on Friday."
The Biden administration has moved rapidly to reset energy and environment policies dramatically shifted by the Trump White House. But how quickly can such a reversal occur, what are the priorities and what are the critical pathways for change? To help sort out the latest news and track larger trends, SEJournal offers this overview and analysis, part of our extensive “2021 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment.”
A case study in how journalists can center environmental news around social justice is at the heart of a new volume of scholarly essays reviewed in the latest BookShelf. While its tale of rural residents poisoned by contaminants is decades old, its lesson of what happens when power players bank on media acquiescence holds for stories of today.
"Environmental and civil rights groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a new lead rule critics argue doesn't do enough to remove the lead pipes that contaminate drinking water."
"The Navajo Nation’s Department of Justice announced Wednesday it has settled with mining companies to resolve claims stemming from a 2015 spill that resulted in rivers in three western states being fouled with a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals."
"Thousands of public housing residents live near the most polluted places in the nation — and the government has done little to protect them."
"A string of explosions involving little-regulated petroleum and chemical storage tanks have lawmakers and regulators talking about new rules as the Legislature prepares to convene this month."
"Insect populations are suffering “death by a thousand cuts”, with many falling at “frightening” rates that are “tearing apart the tapestry of life”, according to scientists behind a new volume of studies."
"EPA marked the last day of 2020 with a controversial announcement, finding few unreasonable risks associated with a common chemical solvent classified as a likely carcinogen. In its final risk evaluation for 1,4-dioxane, EPA determined no unreasonable risks exist for the environment, consumers and bystanders, or the general population."
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